{Synopsis} –Fifteen-year-old Jane Shilling’s best friends don’t know her real name. In fact, they don’t know anything about her at all. Jane’s life has collapsed in the last few years; following the death of her mother, her father turned to drinking, and Jane is reeling from the double blow. To escape, Jane devises a number of online personas, each with a distinct personality, life history, and set of friends. But things become trickier when she finds herself drawing close to some of her online friends, and winds up struggling with the question of how to maintain a real friendship while masquerading as a fake person. With the help of Gary, a socially awkward classmate and competitive Skeeball player who is Jane’s only offline friend, and Nora, her therapist, Jane begins to sift through her issues. The only catch is that that involves taking a long, hard look at what her life’s like when the computer is shut off, and that’s a reality she’s been fighting for years.
{My Thoughts} – This book is brilliant! It made me laugh, it made me cry and and me puzzle over some of the chat language. Jane is an interesting character. Her whole life is revolved around writing fanfiction about Look to Tomorrow and impressing her online friends. She has only one friend that isn’t strictly online and his name is Gary. She goes by so many different names and has so many different character stories it’s impressive she can keep them all straight.
This book is a good book for anyone who has lost a parent or loved one, who is having suicidal issues, who is a social outcast, being bullied, and in general wants to become someone they aren’t because reality is too tough. I really enjoyed reading this book and it was well written. It covered many current topics and they all blended in nicely with one another. The formatting took a bit to get use to but it was easy to follow and was consistent throughout.
A definite must read for anyone that enjoys young adult realistic fiction.
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
